By:Robert Remler
The chef who taught me how to roast a stuffed goose and make a flour-less chocolate cake would be turning 35 years old this week.
Jim Sprigs, who cooked on Long Island, died ten years ago of HIV/AIDS.
His death in 1991 came at the midpoint of the epidemic, which will mark its
20th year in June. He never took advantage of groups that could have provided him with information, because getting sick was his secret.
The disease, however, without mention, dominated his conversation. He talked about T-cells and his blood count like a stockbroker talking about the Dow Jones index. We heard his T-cell count even before getting a recipe for the soup of the day. He never said that if your blood-platelet count is below 200, then you probably have HIV. Nor did he say that a healthy person's count is 1,000.
The week his count dipped below 100, he left the restaurant without notice and moved to the West Coast. For a few months he would telephone, then the calls stopped.
Catherine Hart, director of prevention education at The Long Island
Association for AIDS Care, said 40,000 HIV/AIDS infections occur in
the United States each year. Half of those infections affect people ages 13 to 24.
Last year, LIAAC conducted 48 educational programs a month at
schools in Nassau and Suffolk counties. More than 75,000 students heard the program in such places as Hempstead, Roosevelt, Oceanside and Merrick, among others.
Hart has worked at LIAAC for the past ten years and said that today's
youth "are becoming very complacent" about contracting HIV and AIDS. "We are still fighting the perception that the crisis is over or that HIV can be
controlled with medication like diseases such as diabetes. It cannot."
With no known cure for AIDS, the facts are otherwise.
A recent study indicated that every two hours, two people 13 to 24 years old are infected with HIV nationwide, said Hart. The majority of those now
being infected are African-American men, and AIDS has become the leading killer of black men under the age of 24 in the United States. An estimated
36 million people are living with HIV worldwide, according to a Harvard
University study.
The Centers of Disease Control reported that as of June 2000 there were
6,567 documented AIDS cases on Long Island. Fifty-one percent of the men are white, 37 percent black, 11 percent Hispanic and 1 percent of a
mixed race.
LIAAC's program of preventive education attempts to change health behaviors. Jeff Reynolds, vice president of public affairs, said the organization's task is difficult. A bigger problem is that people are not being diagnosed early enough, he said. Depending on a person's activities, LIAAC recommended being tested for HIV monthly or quarterly. Early diagnosis is essential to long-term care, said Reynolds.
The Nassau County Department of Health recommends using a male latex or female condom when engaging in sex unless you know your partner is not
infected. HIV and other diseases are known to be spread through unprotected sex and needle sharing. The department suggested two protections against the contraction of HIV: "... not to have sex, and never shoot drugs."
Those seeking information about blood tests for HIV can call the
Department of Health at 1-800-541-AIDS. Information about LIAAC is available on its Web site at www.liaac.org or by telephone at 1-877-TOP-LIAAC.
Lectures and meetings
Franklin Hospital Medical Center is sponsoring a free symposium
about the elderly. The series of three lectures will start at 9 a.m.
Saturday, April 28. The lectures will be in the Adult Day Health Care
Auditorium of Franklin's Orzac Geriatric Division. To register, call (516)
256-6397 ...
Winthrop-University Hospital is sponsoring three lectures in April: osteoporosis will be discussed at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 18. To register, call 1-888-53-WOMEN; sleep problems will be the topic at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 24. Admission is free, but seating limited.
Pre-registration is required. Call (516) 663-8300; getting your daughter ready for college is the subject at the Garden City Hotel at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 24. The fee is $25 per person and includes dinner. Pre-registration is required. Call 1-888-53-WOMEN to register ...
The American Lung Association of Nassau-Suffolk is having a free asthma fair from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 5, in the Sunrise Mall, Massapequa. Pre-registration is not necessary. For more information, call (631) 231-LUNG ...
Mercy Medical Center is sponsoring three free bereavement support groups in April. A peri-natal group, for those who have suffered a loss by miscarriage, stillbirth or death of an infant after birth, will meet Tuesday, April 17; those who have lost a parent will meet Thursday, April 19, and those who have lost a spouse can meet starting April 23, at 1 or 7:30 p.m. The groups meet for up to six consecutive weeks. All sessions are at Mercy Medical Center, 1000 N. Village Ave., Rockville Centre. For further
Information, call (516) 485-3060 ...
South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside sponsors five ongoing support groups: an anxiety and depression group meets 3-4 p.m. Mondays, a bereavement group also meets on Mondays, 6-7:30 p.m.; divorced or separated individuals meet the first and third Monday each month, 7-8 p.m.; families of those with mental illness meet the first Thursday each month from 7-8 p.m., and a parenting group meets 10-11 a.m. Saturdays ...
Nassau University Medical Center will host the first John Knowles Swinburne Memorial Lecture at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 19, at the East Meadow facility. Swinburne was a prominent plastic surgeon on the South Shore. "The Delights and Dilemmas of Aesthetic Surgery" will be the lecture topic. To register for the free event, call (516) 742-3404 ext. 210.
